I Love Bread

Posted in Home Accessories by lorimillerdesigns

I love bread. I have a very old bread-making machine that keeps chugging along and I usually make it in the dough cycle so I can finish the goodies up in the oven. It does the mixing, kneading and rising for me. This was about Thanksgiving time and I was inspired by an heirloom bread cloth my Mother in Law had given me, but it was very plain. I decided to make two new ones, one for me and one for her with some added embroidery pizzazz. I got to play with fancy stitches and needles on my sewing machine too.

I started out with this basic pattern.

I just used white cotton kona for the fabric, wish I would have had some white linen. I used a fancy heirloom stitch on my machine and a very large wing needle to hem the entire thing. I sewed right along the seam so the stitch caught it.

I sketched out a couple of designs and started to embroider on one of the flaps. this is a cute orange pumpkin and oak leaves.

Here you can see the fancy stitches better and my embroidery. I just used a simple stem stitch for the whole thing.

For my heirloom bread cloth, I stitched a tree with colorful fall leaves all in a chain or lazy daisy style stitch.

It was a perfect gift to send for Thanksgiving since we could not be together. And I made a big batch of dinner rolls nestled in my cloth for us here in Michigan.

16Oct2013

In My Studio: Making the best fleece neck pillows ever

Posted in Finished Projects, Gift Ideas, Home Accessories, Uncategorized by lorimillerdesigns

I discovered a FREE PATTERN at http://www.sew4home.com for the best little neck pillow ever! It looks like a big dog bone!

I made one out of some leftover fleece and it sewed up so nice and was sooooo soft. I dug out a huge bag of fleece scraps and took it up to our cottage in northern Michigan for the weekend. It was cool and rainy…a perfect day for sewing. Here is a peek into my weekend of work.

Here is part of my pile-o-fleece dumped out on the bed.

I started just cutting out as many pillows as I could.

Here is my glorious stack of pillows all cut out. These are my brilliant idea for christmas gifts for everyone this year.

I wanted to leave one pillow at the cottage, so I stitched up the sides of this cute little sheep that matches my robe.

There are no fabric stores very handy by the cottage, so what to do to stuff my pillow?

How about a $2 pillow from the only local store, Kmart. So yes, I cut open that pillow and used the stuffing for my little relaxing neck pillow.

So I stuffed that little pillow full of my ingenious stuffing.

Here is my little pillow all stuffed and ready to be stitched closed.

I grabbed the rest of my pillows to take home to sew whenever a need a little break. I think the family will be delighted with these gifts and I destashed a huge amount of fleece. I even kept a small pile of the scraps to use just like felt for applique, there were so many colors.

What fun things do you make with your fleece scraps?

Welcome to my Creative World!

I am Lori Miller and this is the official launch of my creative blog. I finally decided to take the plunge and start to get something out here even though it is not perfect yet. I have enjoyed sewing for as long as I can remember. I have been sewing fun little gifts for family, friends and myself. I took up quilting about 10 years ago, but I really like to make smaller quilted items to get a quicker sense of accomplishment.

I have started making some of my goodies for my shop, Lori Miller Designs, and I thought this blog would be a fun way to document some of my stitching adventures and share the things I love.

I figure this will be a work in progress as I read WordPress for Dummies and check other how to manuals for my blog from the library. Oh how I love the library! So much goodness all in one place. And of course, read all of the goodies on the internet.

Welcome and stay tuned on my blog, definitely a work in progress.